The publicity power of a protest...

Hardline Christian councillors who campaigned against a Bible-based comedy show have only served to boost its appeal.

When politicians forced the council-run Theatre At The Mill on the outskirts of Belfast to cancel two performances of The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged) last week, it had sold 150 of the maximum 800 seats.

Yesterday a full meeting of Newtownabbey Borough Council overturned the ban imposed by its artistic board – and within 12 hours both tonight and tomorrow night’s shows had sold out.

The ban drew widespread attention to the show from the Reduced Shakespeare Company

After the council meeting overturned the controversial band they said they would ‘undertake a review of the Artistic Board’s governance arrangements’.

The move to cancel the show at the council-run venue was led by Democratic Unionist councillor Audrey Ball, who sits on the artistic board. Before the ban, her husband Billy had said: ‘For Christians, the Bible is the infallible word of God and it's not something to be made fun of. These people are treating something sacred with irreverence and disrespect.’

More than 2,500 people signed a petition to the couple urging them to ‘acknowledge that your personal and vociferous demands for censorship of the arts fall outside of any public authority that you have been afforded’.

Published: 29 Jan 2014